CHAP, i.] Forestry in Britain 17 



It may be urged against this, that at some Agricultural 

 Schools there are classes of Estate Management and Forestry. 

 This is quite correct, but it does not follow as a matter of 

 course that the teachers there have a really sound know- 

 ledge of the scientific principles and practice of Forestry. 

 Hence a question may very pertinently be asked similar to 

 the Quis custodiet ipsos custodes ? For where shall such men at 

 present get the scientific and practical training in Forestry, 

 without which they are in a certain degree like the blind 

 leading the blind ? In order that this picture may not seem 

 harsh, ungenerous, and overdrawn, permit me to quote from 

 the evidence given before the parliamentary Committee on 

 Forestry on June 15, 1887, by the lecturer on Estate Manage- 

 ment and Forestry at Cirencester (pp, 27-29 of Report dated 

 August 3, 1887). 



468. You are Professor of Estate Management and Forestry at Ciren- 

 cester College ? I am ; I am also a Fellow of the Royal Highland Agri- 

 cultural Society of Scotland, by examination, 



470. Have you had practical instruction in forestry yourself? No, 

 only on estates. 



474. Would you give the Committee some idea of the course of instruc- 

 tion in practical forestry ? There is a course of lectures forming a part of 

 the syllabus of estate management, consisting of about six or seven lectures, 

 as the case may be, and those are illustrated by field- classes in the woods, 

 timber measuring, and valuing standing timber, different processes of 

 planting, grafting, layering, and so on. This is done in the woods. 



485. And are they (the students) shown specimens of good forestry 

 and bad forestry, and how to distinguish good from bad ? We have not 

 that opportunity ; we have no bad forestry. 



487. You show them what mistakes to avoid in wood management 

 I presume ? Yes, but at present it is only on a very small scale in my 

 syllabus ; we have not an opportunity of going fully into the matter. 



509. I gather, from what you have stated, that you do not consider 

 the course at Cirencester is sufficient for the education that land agents 

 should receive in forestry ? No. 



515. Is it your belief that instruction in forestry would be a national 

 gain ? It is so. 



521. Are you acquainted with the system of forest instruction pursued in 

 France and Germany ? No, I am not. 



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